Seeing Stars: Photo Shoot Assignment

Monday Photo shoot: Seeing Stars

Your Monday Photos Shoot: Take a picture (or find a picture) of something with stars -- the "twinkle, twinkle" kind, not the "famous people" kind. However, they don't have to be real stars: Fake stars -- like the ones on Christmas trees, on neon signs or on the Hollywood Walk of Fame are just fine, too.

From John's journal page, By The Way.

I wasn't planning on doing this one until today when I saw these words posted above the computers in the workshop I attended all day:

Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you will land among the stars!

Well, I didn't have my camera to photograph the colorful banner, which included a universe of stars, but decided to use the photos I took here at  home to show the stars, in two contexts.

The first is the Christmas card my memere sent to us back in 1985. It is special because my grandmother didn't write many letters, nor send many cards. I am a saver of cards, and the one above finds its place of honor on a shelf or on the fireplace mantel every year because it reminds me of her boisterous and loving spirit. Her handwriting inside reads simply:

"From memere who loves youse all Big Steve small steve"

Now there was a woman who mastered brevity in her writing.

But I know the love was great that held the pen and mailed the card to me. She lived more than half her life in Connecticut, I believe. She spoke with a heavy Canadian French accent, claiming all my life that she came to our country in a banana boat, and that one of her descendants was an Indian princess (Canada region). Of course, I believed her. Her mother's last name was Montmity, but I know I'm misspelling it. She spoke fluent French, which is why, in high school and college, I took French instead of Spanish. I haven't used it since, but enjoy listening to it.

Whenever I hear someone speak French, I remember my memere, who could cook up a mean pot of pigs' feet. I never learned to like pigs' feet, but memere did, and I remember she'd have a pot for special occasions, like Thanksgiving Day, or just because the family was coming over. She loved to laugh and tell jokes, she loved Frank Sinatra (told me once he could eat crackers in her bed anytime), Lawrence Welk, and loved to teach her grandkids songs in French. We learned one that started "La petite fille de memere, allez belles ..." anyway, I don't remember all the words, but it was a naughty song, and she would laugh when her littlest ones sang it back to her. What a laugh that woman had! It's what I remember most about her.

The other object with stars is The Discoverers by Daniel Boorstin. If you click on view larger, you'll see the cover better. I loved the subtitle: A History of Man's Search to Know His World and Himself. Isn't that what we all do, search to know our world and ourselves?

If you look really close at the picture on the cover, you'll see the stars  in the night sky, and in the lower left corner, a man on his knees crawling at the edge of the known world, breaking through and peering into what may be the unknown world, leading him to yet undiscovered knowledge, inventions, and lands. I love this illustration representing man's discoveries, how throughout time man has discovered the things that today we take for granted, and possibly can't imagine living without.

The book is subdivided into four broad sections: Time (how we came to measure time, and make it portable), The Earth and Seas (history of man's discovery of the earth, the lands, the search, pilgrimages or invasions, for new lands and new trading routes), Nature (from the invisible, medical, and scientific, to giving everything a name, and evolution), and Society (history of history, writing, the impact Christianity and Islam had on the world, modern times discoveries of mathematical formulas, and the use of equations and statistics to make predictions). It's a lot to read, and someday, I will finish this book!

The jacket art credit on the back flap states that the picture is an early 16th century woodcut. Amazing, isn't it, that he captured an image of what captures our interest today.  Consider some of the expressions we use to express our desire to grow and learn, even today: "pushing the envelope"  "reaching for the stars", "the sky is the limit (though clearly, it isn't here!),  "searching to the ends of the earth" or "going boldly where no man has gone before!"

Maybe you can think of a few others related to this image. If you think of others, I'd love for you to write them in your comments. The book was published in 1983, Random House.

These are the stars I was thinking about today. The kind we want our kids to reach for.